September 2005 Issue

There will be a formal petition to gauge undergraduate student support for completely replacing regular coffee with coffee grown under conditions in which those growing it receive a living wage, announced Union President Jenny Feinberg 07 in response to last weeks Hoot editorial decrying the use of a previous poll as official support from the students.

I recently attended one of the new student send offs in my area before returning to campus, and was confronted with the responsibility of having to show off all the great things about Brandeis. Dont let this articles title lead you to believe that I dislike Brandeis in any way, but I actually had trouble making the school sound good. After all, even though the school has an excellent academic reputation, everything else just plain stinks.

A while back, I was indulging in my hourly ritual of checking Facebook. Ok, fine, maybe Im exaggerating a little. Make that my five times-daily ritual. Thats much more accurate. Dont laugh, you know you do it, too.

During orientation, baskets were passed around to collect money for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. A triumphant email one day later announced that we had raised over $1400 for the cause. In the grand scheme of things, $1400 isnt that much money, but it is a lot to ask a group of new first-years reaching into their pockets on the spur of the moment to donate.

Yesterday, in the midst of another crazy day of classes and club meetings I happened to stop by my mailbox. I wasnt expecting much, I figured all I would find would be some flier inviting me to this club or that dance, but amongst all the stuff I usually recycle, I found an envelope addressed to me decorated with sparkly purple and green star stickers.

We would like to commend the Brandeis administration for working with student and professor groups towards a common goal of equal pay for both contract and non-contract workers at Brandeis. However we want to caution anyone who uses adjectives like victory to describe this achievement. While it is an admirable goal to have workers who do the same jobs get paid the same amount, it may have unintended consequences. For example, several workers around campus have privately complained that it was students doing the negotiating in their name.

After months of negotiation between the administration and the Service Employees International Union Local 615, direct workers and contracted workers will receive the same pay. The old contract expires in August 2006.

We had a new AD [Athletic Director] take over last year, and she examined our entire structure, said Tom Rand, the Assistant Athletic Director for Clubs, IM, and Recreation Sports. The way its set up is that the student clubs are funded by the Student Union. The crew team was the only [club sport] getting money from the athletic department.

Jamele Adams has officially taken up residence in his new home in the office of student life. As the new Assistant Dean of Student Life for the Support of Diversity, replacing Nathaniel Mays, Dean Adams describes his role on campus as two-fold. As an Assistant Dean, he is here for the maintenance of operations;

making sure Brandeis University is meeting the expectations of the students and that the students are meeting the expectations of Brandeis.